So much she said to me.

Fifteen years ago ...


Isaiah 60:15-22                               May 4
Martha in 7 days!                            10205.04


Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the LORD am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. 16


The mighty One of Jacob the liar and Jacob the cheat -- who became Jacob the leader, Jacob the patriarch, Jacob the founder of the Twelve Tribes. God wants to save us!


Peter, Laurence J. and Hull, Raymond. The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1969.


"In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence." This saying seems to be known, especially in the corporate world, to the extent that no one's read the sourcebook. I did, and the text provides abundant examples of its users as well as how to take advantages of it yourself.


[Prayer requests on the bottom two pages of this journal entry are for Greg and Sheree and for our eternal home (heaven). At the time I wrote it, I was still living in Florida and the "7 days" is my counting down to her and her sisters arriving in Orlando where I would go meet them!]


Believe it or not, Martha does not routinely edit these journal entries of mine from back then or my posts now. Or even read them, so I'm told. And I'm sorry if I don't remember or write down everything she says to me like it's wisdom from on high ... put it another way, marriage is not for sissies. Anyway, my wife is not the she I refer to in today's title; rather I refer to Monica, another mother who's commemorated in the Christian church today (she died May 4, 387) whose son is way better known; in fact, Augustine is one of the greatest teachers the church has had.


But he didn't start out that way.


Even a cursory reading of The Confessions of Saint Augustine, the arguably earliest autobiography ever written (I say "arguably" because there's reason to believe that most of the Pentateuch, going with Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy as the "books of Moses" is the autobiography of Moses) shows that he was pretty wild and free. He studied hard, became a teacher, took a mistress, had a son out of wedlock with her, became a cultist, and he's probably remembered for saying "Lord God make me pure, but not yet" ... oy.


But Monica would not stop praying for him.


And after seventeen years and many Many MANY arguments and disappointments -- but not Augustine with his mom, rather Augustine with an unnamed bishop who eventually told Monica to keep praying for him as "it is impossible that the son of so many tears should perish". We've got a lesson to learn here, and I almost feel like I've written a devotional text that I usually reserve for Friday. BUT I have another one planned in the pipeline and nearly finished, so come back here for "Is Truth Dead?" tomorrow, the Lord be willing.


It always comes back to willing.


In my case sometimes, it's willingness to be conscious. Martha's sister Mary took Sarah and Jeffrey after school to the Shriners Circus' final performance here in town last night, so Martha and I got in some alone time ... which would have been more memorable had the kids not just been dropped off at home (not that I blame them, overall I'd be ready to go to bed too!) shortly before ten pm. So it was brushing flossing praying -- we still haven't gotten mouthwash darn it! -- go to bed. And shortly afterward Martha and I were both nodding off on the couch, and then woke up, and went to bed.


Embarrassing.


What was more embarrassing is this morning when I forgot that I had to have Sarah (who wondered when we were leaving as I sat to breakfast!) at Ramstad Middle School for band practice -- she'll go to Longfellow until the end of the month -- so I had to leave early than I usually do with the kids. As it is it takes ten to twelve minutes for us to get from our house to Ramstad and then ten to twelve minutes to get from Ramstad to Longfellow and bring Jeffrey there. But I'll get used to that; I have to, as Sarah starts sixth grade at Ramstad this fall, and Jeffrey has fifth grade at Longfellow.


Oh what they all say to me,


David